Tuesday, March 3, 2009

11 Reasons why you should NEVER run with a stomach full of Salmon

Yesterday it was raining and windy - like Kansas windy. I wasn't sure when I'd get my long run in (1.5 hours) - so as my morning bagel started to wear off I needed to eat something. I found a nice bit of salmon and made a sandwich with it - thinking I could probably kiss a nice hole in the weather goodbye. I figured a healthy lunch was better than nothing if I was keeping score - I'm sick-ish, so I can pretty much just say I'm recovering.

BUT

The sun came out along with the still whipping wind.

I changed into my awesome Under Armour stuff, threw on my cheerleader attracting Under Armour Spectres and went out for a very very slow run. I'm just keeping everything in Z1 and that is fine, anything harder and I choke from coughing. So I ran as did the salmon in my stomach.

I can barely run with a bagel or a gel without getting terribly sick. I've known this for years but I figured if I could run with a stomach full of salmon - I would be fine with whatever GI issues I'd face in a half ironman or shorter.

It hurt.

When the wind wasn't blowing so hard my really tight UA hat was blowing off (it's a beanie and it was coming off my head) and my FEET were blowing around in between foot strikes! As I got to the south end of Tiburon - waves were blowing over the rocks and into the road where I was some 30 meters away. For the first time ever - I didn't see a single cyclist on my run, they'd be on a suicide ride but there's usually someone like me willing to take a ride in ridiculous conditions.

I just took each mile one at a time (it's not as though I'm fast enough to take them 2 at a time even on a good day).

Between the coughing and the salmon trying to get back into the ocean - it was a painful run.

I did finish - all 11.25 miles but it wasn't fun.

I'm finally feeling a little better but not yet 90% and it shows. I can't swim (couldn't anyhow), ride with good power and my run is still stuck in the 7:30-8 min zone until probably next week. Luckily Greg has had the same cold - but got it a week prior to me, so I get good feedback from him on how he's feeling - even with some training and how I should be feeling in a week.

I'm out tomorrow to get in some riding and a run later in the day - I might even try some Z2 and Z3 pushes to see what happens!

New Orleans 70.3 in 4 weeks.

BTW - the picture is from a race I did a few years ago. It might be one of the worst photos taken at a race (my fault for being a hog in spandex as well as the camera man's). At least they got my race number.